Are Webtoon ratings something to worry about?

[GeraldB93]

Hey everyone, I just posted the 2nd episode of my comic Bigfoot’s Getaway on webtoon (and here on tapas) yesterday. Was at a 10 then dropped to a 7. Maybe I had a small sample size? I don’t think my comic is that bad so far, but I’d actually like some constructive criticism so I can improve my work if that’s the case. Comic creators work hard so I’m definitely still going to improve my comic, but I’d still like to know if the ratings are something I should think more about? Thanks.

[Rizzvatt]

Ratings don´t make much of a difference, meaning that most people don´t look at it and read the comic anyway if the art in the thumbnail is eye-catchy and the story synopsis is done well, I´ve seen comics with 6 stars that had thousands of hearts on the early episodes and dropped to hundreds in the later episodes because the plot might be bland or causes confusion.

[BreakingChalk]

It must be a small sample.

Doing the math, two persons rated your comic with 10, and one rated it 1.

That's just trolling tbh.

You should look more on the "hearts" on individual episodes, views, and every once in a while, check your chapters to see what people comment on those; unfortunately, webtoon won't send you notifications on comments, so you'll have to check them out on yourself, just don't abuse it so your own views don't make most of the story views.

[ItzaMeLuigi]

Ratings tend to work better when you have more of them since it's less prone to rapid changes. When there's only a small sample size, it only takes one person to rate your comic 1 star for your overall rating to tank. As @TalkingChalk said, what's more important is the reception on individual episodes.

[Puck]

I wouldn´t stress about the ratings

[Jenny-Toons]

It's easy to get wrapped up in the rating system. Seen a few creators (both here and in several discord servers) kinda fall into a rabbit hole trying to beat the system, believing this was how readers saw their work.

Fact of the matter -- the system is easily abused. Like easily and often.

During Webtoon contests of ANY kind, readers (and surprisingly some creators) are downvoting other comics to make sure their favorites gain more popularity. Even without contests, this still happens.

There's no rhyme or reason as to why someone will downvote you, and even if they had a reason, you're never gonna see it. The system doesn't allow people to leave written reviews to why they upvoted or downvoted something. So you can't even indicate what you need to improve on (if you even need to) unless people comment.

Additionally, its overall grading system has become real unhealthy. I was in a discord server with a creator who kept freaking out if they got anything less than a 9.5 rating. And for some readers, if you got a 7, they just assume your comic isn't worth its salt. It reminds me too much of school and how people kinda work themselves to the bone for grades.

All in all, it's not a good indicator of a comic's actual work. At least not on Webtoons.

If someone can't be bothered to comment on why they may or may not like your stuff and just leaves a rating, it doesn't really help you improve even if you wanted to. So I say don't even sweat it

[GeraldB93]

Thanks for the feedback everyone, was just curious since I’m still pretty new to the webcomic game. Still gonna keep working hard at it, I appreciate your comments!